I am a teenager and freshman in college required to suffer through the demanding schedules, big changes, many stresses, and the attempt to discover who I am. Freshman in college and teenagers in general have to tuff time because they were poorly prepared for the life and the challenges it contains. It is a lot different than the high schools that all everyone left, but some have more troubles than others. I believe that I am adjusting rather well but the transition is not without challenges.

Maintaining a well drawn out and planned schedule can be the difference between success and failure in college. I keep my schedule of events, papers that are due, and test all on my computer using Microsoft Outlook. School is the main thing that I have to keep a schedule. I tend to forget about important dates and end up rushing to get a paper done or cramming for a last second test. When I am not in class I still have to plan certain hours of each day for studying. Even though I do not actually study as much as I plan out I still try to give myself an hour or two each day. My parents have wanted me to come back to Tulsa to do some family stuff so I have missed a couple classes and had to schedule around much of my school work and other obligations. Also, fraternity obligations are more events I have to keep up when dues are collected, when meetings are held, and when things for the fraternity are due. Many of the fraternity things I do not forget because I enjoy it a lot more than school and do not want to mess it up by forgetting important dates. It is tuff keeping up with things that I am obligated to do while still leaving free time so that I can relax and have a good time. I am also trying to get a job here on campus which will also require some creative scheduling to fit everything I need to do into a day. If all teenagers have a good schedule and actually do what the schedule says then getting things done should not be a problem.

Many changes occur in the transition from going to high school while living at home with parents and going to college and living in an apartment. Since I am living alone, four hours away from my parents I have to learn how to manage my time without someone pushing me to get things done. Bills and money for food also have become an issue. Managing my finances so that I have enough money for food and entertaining while keeping track so I have enough money for rent can be strenuous at times. I can not just go into the pantry and grab whatever I want; I have to make sure to go out and shop for food and drinks. I have started to just eat whatever is sitting around the apartment because I forgot to go shopping and was starving. There are many different types of people that go to school here from different parts of the United States. Back in Tulsa, my home town, I had made a pretty close group of friends and knew a good amount of people there. Here in Dallas there are completely new people that are not always the easiest to get along with or talk with. Since this is a completely different state it is hard to find new people to relate to, especially since I am from Oklahoma and not a lot of people like Oklahoma here. The many changes that come with going to college can make it seem very hard to get anything done, but over time people adjust and enjoy college.

As a college freshman there are many pressures to find out who I am and what kind of person I want to be as I grow older not only in college but in life in general. Going to college is an opportunity for me to reinvent myself however I want to. I pretty much already knew who I was and what kind of person I was in high school but am now realizing that the person I am now will more than likely be the person I will always be. I will always be a soccer player even though I did quit the UTD soccer team this year. I plan to join other soccer teams and maybe come back and play for UTD in the future. I have sit through many talks about finding and creating a self identity that I can be proud of and I believe for the most part that I have alright created that person and am very proud of who I am.

Being a freshman in college also has its downside along with the good. I do not have my car down in Dallas yet because I have to earn it first. My parents want to see me succeed without them before they start giving me stuff. Also, I do not enjoy getting stuck in phase 8 in quads. I know dealing with roommates is suppose to help me grow as a person and help me learn to get along with people but two of my roommates are just impossible to deal with. I figure as long as I can deal with them I am becoming a better person and its helping me. Learning to deal with new instructors with many different types of teaching styles has been a challenge. I have one instructor that likes to lecture, one that does everything out of the book, and one that is all online. Getting used to other peoples habits and tendencies benefits me because I will always be running into different kinds of everything and have to be prepared to admit who I am to any situation. These things are more challenges than bad things but you always have to take the bad with the good in any situation.

In conclusion being a teenager and a freshman in college has many challenges that I must overcome before I can take the next step in life. With all the difficult schedules, continuous changes, and many stresses college life will continue to give me a hard time. However, if I do well my freshman year then I will become someone ever better than I am now